KUWAIT: The Cabinet's demographic adjustment committee is currently studying a number of measures to regulate and adjust Kuwait's population structure, including controlling the difference between the total numbers of various communities, reducing the number of marginal laborers and dealing with legal loopholes some use to manipulate the law. In this regard, security sources said the committee, comprising of elements from the interior ministry, the manpower authority and a number of other bodies, suggested a number of measures, including the following:

1- Setting a limited quota per community for economic and security reasons.

2- Banning residency visa renewals for expats older than 65 years of age with legal exemptions of some professions.

3- Banning private sector visa transfers to other sponsors before five years and immediately deporting those who refuse to work for their own sponsors.

4- Banning visa transfers from the government to the private sector and allowing the government sector to recruit expats already in the country instead of bringing others from abroad.

5- Increasing residency visa fees as soon as possible to match those imposed in neighboring countries in order to reduce the number of marginal laborers and match the services provided.

6- Intensifying security inspection campaigns to deport marginal laborers and visa violators on a monthly basis.

7- Taxing expat remittances.

8- Accelerating the construction of "bachelor" cities in order to reduce crimes and prevent the presence of single men in private residential areas.

9- Setting stricter penalties for harboring violating laborers and stiffening current laws.

By A Saleh